Is anyone else sick of cookie cutter discussion questions in your DL class?

As I am completing my discussions for this week I am annoyed by the fact that most students do not offer anything original in their post but instead regurgitate basically the same thing that the person above them says. It really comes down to cookie cutter discussion questions with students who are afraid maybe to write something other than a straight answer? (BTW this is NOT me! I always write something personal in my posts and I always get a perfect score and great feedback because of it! )

I get that asking one question makes it easy but how about making a requirement where you have to show that you truly understand the material you are supposed to be learning instead of just copying answers from your textbook.

Bad day in Distancelearningville.....

Oh and if your curious why this bother me so.. Because I can't make responses in an original way to the same answer for the people I am required to respond to! It is hard to have meaningful discussions and learn from my class mates when they all write the same freaking thing! There are a few exceptions I must say but for the most part they all write the same stuff.

 

Yes! Participating in the discussion boards used to drive me nuts! So many stupid answers and some of them very long winded. It appeared that some people thought that the longer their answer was, the more intelligent it sounded. The other problem is that many just regurgitate what they read in the book onto the board. What good is that? The theory is that you learn from each other, but it doesn't seem to work that way. I endured 2 years of those things getting my masters.

That's why I love NCU; no discussion board requirements. They are available but they are optional.

 

At least in my experience, usually the questions are phrased in such a way that regurgitating what's in the text is a sure fire means by which to receive full credit for the assignment. And to me this just contributes to grade inflation and illustrates laziness on the part of the instructor. It also illustrates the ineptitude of the administration who may ask for a discussion board component in an effort to duplicate the lecture / communication dynamic of in-class coursework but it fails miserably. Like you I would prefer that the discussion questions be phrased differently to encourage more individual thought, or make them voluntary.

 

Or you try hard not to tell people they're stupid because they don't have an original idea and/or can't tie the book into anything relevant?

I know I can be long winded on my discussion posts, but I try to notice when that's happening and cutting down on my babbling.

 

That is why I, as a teacher, always ask how this applies to real life. Here is one of the posts I make in every class-

Okay, I am seeing the same phrases being used over and over. The purpose of the questions is to answer them in YOUR WORDS. I would rather you use your words and be mostly right and a little off versus copy and pasting something from a website or out of the book and having no idea what it even means.

The purpose of the class is to learn. It is not an exerecise to find the best sounding answer and copy it. I have taught this class for 3 years and have gotten pretty good at spotting things. Please realize that the school has a plagiarism policy.

While saying that characteristics of a good business letter is the date, salutation, closing, and signature is technically correct it does not tell me what each one is and demonstrate that the student is even clear on what these elements are. I need details and the references of where the information came from.

**Disclaimer - this is not geared toward any one person and is a general message to all students in all class. I have posted this in previous classes and will post it in future class. It is not personal.

 

This would work. Do you have the freedom to pose your own discussion questions? I know they are canned in a lot of class discussion boards.

 

Also, on the regurgitation issue; a lot of the classes I took required regurgitation. The instructor would look for you repeating the principles of the lesson to insure that you understood the material. It was treated as a little quiz, which makes for a very boring, unproductive thread.

 

Regurgitation isn't learning, it's memorization. I can memorize tons of information if I wanted, but I am looking to understand a concept, not memorize a set of instructions. Honestly, true learning is showing someone the underlying concept of a lesson in your own way, or a way similar that they can understand. At least that's the way i view it.

 

It's true and meaningful learning is the intent of the threaded discussions in most of the online classes. It just doesn't often seem to work out that way.

 

They are canned but I really take it any direction I want. Here is a list of some of my favorite posts/questions to steer the direction of the posts. Some of the links may be broken due to the stories being old.

***CLASS QUESTION***
Regarding computers and the need to upgrade, if your basic needs are not met, why care about a computer. Is everyone familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs? What are they? Do you agree with the concept and why/why not? Where do computers fall in there?

*** Something to think about ***
What do you think about this article when looking at alternative methods of using the internet?
Cookies and a digital world- US Airways Magazine / The Magazine That Connects You

***Great Story***
A great story about eliminating the “anonymous user” on the Internet
US Airways Magazine / The Magazine That Connects You

*** Good Story ***
Was this punishment too harsh or did it send a message? What do you think?
Sharing Songs Online Costs Woman $222,000

*** Class Question ***
Do you think this behavior is changing the way we communicate? Is the acceptability and common use of text messaging affecting the standards that are set on email communications?
How fast R U? Teen Iowa girl wins US texting title
How fast R U? Teen Iowa girl wins US texting title

Do you think people see the dangers of texting when competitions are held to make it fun and award prize money?
Mobile phone addiction: Clinic treats children
Mobile phone addiction: Clinic treats children - Telegraph

Calif woman gets 6 years for fatal texting crash
Calif. woman gets 6 years for fatal texting crash - Crime & courts- msnbc.com

***Question for the class***
Here is a link to the Windows XP license agreement. –
MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION (RETAIL) END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR MICROSOFT SOFTWARE
Additional Information-
Each PC needs its own full license. To be properly licensed and receive technical support and updates, you must have a full underlying license for all software installed on each PC.
Know The Facts

If you have never read it, this will tell you what you are agreeing to. Did you ever know what you were agreeing to and does it change your answer [is it okay to copy software]?

*** Something to think about ***
Here is something to think about. If you “borrow” software and do not pay for it, the software company like Microsoft will not get the revenue. If they are not getting money, and still need to pay employees, rent, expenses, pay the shareholders, etc., how will they meet the bills? They would need to raise the price of the software to get the money.

People complain that price is too high so they justify “borrowing” the software but they are actually adding to the problem. When I was younger, there was a chain store in New Jersey named Two Guys. People would steal from them like they were going shopping for free. If someone was going to Two Guys, the question was, “What are you going to steal?”

The store lost so much money due to theft; they had to raise the prices of everything. When prices went up, people stopped shopping there and they eventually went out of business. Can the same apply to software companies?


*** Good story ***
Here is an interesting story. With so many people making their private lives public, do they lose their right to privacy when they post things online?
Canadian woman loses benefits over Facebook photo
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091122/ap_on_re_ca/cn_canada_facebook_insurance


*** Good story ***
Am I old fashion or it this just weird?
Man marries a videogame
Man marries a videogame - Plugged In - Yahoo! Games

 

Oh yes I agree that discussions are mostly informative. You just have to know who to talk to and who to agree to disagree with on some topics. It's also worth mentioning that sometimes people pay more attention to what the instructor asks/says than other students.

 

Man marries a video game? You do have some rather interesting, if not frightening, discussions!

 

News Flash! What do you think going to school on campus is about? The EXCHANGE of ideas? Uh-no, its about getting everyone on the same page. If you don't think that the vast majority of colleges push one point of view. Well, it must be your point of view they are pushing.

Indoctrinate U.

 

I have had discussion board requirements in a variety of classes.

Some have been cookie-cutter, some have been very stimulating, and some have been downright awful.

One instructor I had in an accounting class at UOP (I worked there so I took some classes) simply posed a discussion board question in the form of an accounting problem.

You could answer the question in less than 50 words, and that was being verbose. We had to milk hundreds of words out of that question and respond to others! You can bet that was repetitive.

 

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I'll tell you what I LOVE. When there is an assigned reading/research, and then someone posts their forum post before completing the reading lol! Then, it gets better. Because the next poster is lazy and piggy-backs on the post. CLEARLY copying what was said but tweaking it just enough not to technically be plagiarism. That's my favorite, because that's such an ignorant position- to trust the prior poster's accuracy.

Last semester we had a forum requirement to discuss those magnet bracelets that some people use for "healing." Half, more than half, of the students turned to google for their "research" about how they work- why they work, blah blah. Most of the other half just copied junk from the other students to formulate their "research." Baaaa!

Turns out, that nearly everyone fell for the pseudo-science marketing bs sites and all these wild claims. Had the students done their reading, they would have known that the whole purpose of the post was to teach us how to deconstruct pseudo science. Most of the students fell for it, and then there was this big back peddling the following week about "if it helps one person than it was worth it....". I nailed that assignment, and all week I had students arguing with me. LOL they made asses out of themselves, which just made me look better in the end. <smile> Busted

 

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LOL, I can top that. My Intro Chem teacher last semester gave us MATH problems in the forum. (what is the volume of a fish tank that measures.....) We had to answer, and then reply to at least 2 other posters
You should have read my replies

 

It's especially heartwarming to face discussions in one's senior year and find one's peers still get most of their ideas from talk radio.

I've recently learned from a current student that my top grad school choice has very limited discussions; definitely points in favor...

Phillip

 

That's comical. When I had to do those discussions, I actually got lazy in opposite manner as those students. I would spend a good amount of time and craft my original post very well and I would usually get top points. Where I slacked off was in reading the other posts. I would usually just skim them to find something to say that would fulfill the requirement. I did that because, like you said, the other posts were mostly a bunch of drivel. There were usually a few thoughtful students in the group and I would try to find their posts to read.